Inter City Firm


The Inter City Firm is an English football hooligan firm mainly active in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, associated with West Ham United. The name came from the use of InterCity trains to travel to away games.

Notable associates

One figure associated with the ICF was Cass Pennant, who wrote on football hooliganism in the 1990s and 2000s. He is the subject of the film Cass, which was released on 1 August 2008. In Congratulations You Have Just Met the ICF, Pennant, a black Londoner, maintains that the ICF was not racist or right-wing.
The main character in the film Rise of the Footsoldier, Carlton Leach, is also associated with the ICF. He, along with Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe, later started to get involved in the criminal underworld in London. They strayed away from the dangers of football fights, to focus on selling drugs and taxing dealers. Tate, Tucker and Rolfe met a brutal end when they were murdered in their Range Rover on a farm road in Rettendon, Essex.
In the foreword to Manchester United hooligan Colin Blaney's book Undesirables: The Inside Story of the Inter City Jibbers, Cass Pennant has stated that he is now friendly with members of various other firms, including Manchester United and Manchester City, suggesting that some of the rivalries of yesteryear have now died down.

Calling cards

The ICF pioneered calling cards that were left on victims. They read "Congratulations, you've just met the ICF". Similar cards were used by Leeds United Service Crew. This became, "Congratulations you've just met the famous ICF", when the ICF were the subject of a Thames Television documentary, Hooligan, which featured ICF members including Cass Pennant.

In popular culture

The ICF were the basis of Alan Clarke's 1988 film, The Firm. Gary Oldman plays Bex Bissell, the leader of the ICC - Inter City Crew. Members of the ICF were used as consultants on the film. The 2005 film Green Street was based on the ICF, but not by name. Instead, the initials GSE were used. The ICF make an appearance in Irvine Welsh's novellas '. The ICF are also suggested in the 2009 film '. The ICF also make a return as the GSE in Green Street 3: Never Back Down.